Photograph by: Larry Wong
, Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - Walk into Prairie Mill Bread Co. and you’ll be surrounded by everything you might expect to find in a local bakery. There’s the tantalizing aroma of fresh baking swirling among neatly arranged rows of bread, there’s the liberal dusting of flour over everything, and yes, there’s even the basket of gigantic, killer cinnamon buns.

Lurking way back in the corner, though, is the not-so-expected: Julie.

“She’s about 15 years old — a teenager, really — and she sits on the back shelf with the bins of grain and bags of sugar,” says Owen Peterson, owner of Edmonton’s Prairie Mill, with a laugh. “And yes, she smells.”

Julie, you see, is Prairie Mill’s sourdough starter, and even though her odour might take some getting used to, she is an integral part of the bakery. Julie is the reason that every morning, six days a week, plump loaves of fragrant sourdough bread emerge from the ovens.

Real sourdough bread (not to be confused with bread that’s called sourdough but contains absolutely no sourdough whatsoever) always starts with a sourdough culture. At its most basic level, sourdough is simply a mixture of flour and water that has wild yeast and bacteria living in it. Some of the starter is used as leavening for bread instead of commercial yeast, and the remaining starter is fed more flour and water to replenish it.

“It’s basic fermentation. Give the starter a warm environment and the yeast will eat the flour. That produces carbon dioxide — that’s where the bubbles come from — and alcohol. Once she becomes what I like to call perky — all bubbly and fluffy — and almost doubles in size, she’s ready to use.”

It may sound simple, but Julie is somewhat needy. She needs to be fed once a day — which means coming in on long weekends just to tend to her — and, according to Peterson, she’s subject to mood swings. When it’s hot and humid in the bakery, she tends to eat more, too.

“If Julie’s in a different mood than the last time I baked with her, I’ll get a different bread,” explains Peterson. “Today a lot of the baking culture is about producing the exact same product, but that’s the beauty of sourdough: the end result is never going to be exactly the same.”

Julie has proudly called Edmonton’s Prairie Mill home since 2008, but the original Julie came to life 15 years ago at Calgary’s Prairie Mill location, where she’s still very much alive and happily ensconced in a big 80-litre Rubbermaid container.

“Yes, there are actually two Julies. Sourdough changes when its surroundings change. Things like temperature, elevation and atmosphere all affect it,” explains Peterson. “So when I brought her to Edmonton, I tried calling her Juliette. It didn’t stick, though — she was still the Julie I remembered.”

John Juurlink now owns Calgary’s Prairie Mill, and he was working at the bakery when Julie was first created from a recipe out of Nancy Silverton’s Breads from the La Brea Bakery.

“We used flour, water and the liquid of fermenting grapes. She has never died on us, but we try to take good care of her. It’s a love/hate relationship, though. There’s nothing better than a slice of fresh sourdough bread, but feeding her isn’t anyone’s favourite thing to do.”

Juurlink believes most bakeries have moved away from using a natural starter, and Jos Reihl of Calgary’s Rustic Sourdough Bakery agrees. Reihl has two starters of his own, a 15-year-old rye and an eight-year-old white (both of which remain nameless).

“People think sourdough bread has to taste sour, but that’s not true at all. Some places give their breads a sour taste by using commercial yeast and adding acetic acid or vinegar to the dough. If the sourness of the bread blows you off your chair, it has nothing to do with real sourdough — it has to do with chemicals.”

Over at Bon Ton Bakery in Edmonton, head baker Gabor Dobos nurtures four different starters — a spelt, a white, a rye and a heritage grain — that range in age from a few months to, according to his best guess, just over 50 years. He uses a starter in 80-per-cent of the breads he bakes.

“Some of our breads are made using only the sourdough starter, but a lot of them — like our croissants — use regular yeast along with a little bit of sourdough,” says Dobos.

“Sourdough gives the bread so much more flavour and personality, and it acts as a natural preservative. Not only that — bread made with sourdough is easier to digest. It really is the soul of the bread.

“And no, I don’t have names for our starters, but I love them very much. They’re like my children.”

Dobos started working with sourdough in Germany in 1991, and it’s been one of his passions ever since.

“If you cut his veins, sourdough would run out,” Hilton Dinner, Bon Ton’s owner, says with a smile.

Even though a lot of places seem to be moving toward commercial starters, Peterson is sticking with Julie.

“I’m no scientist, but the original way of making bread was with levain, or natural yeast. Today’s dry and fresh yeast are commercially manufactured.”

When starter is ready (a spoonful floats in lukewarm water), mix all the ingredients together (use enough flour to create a ball of dough). Knead dough for about 10 minutes — the smoother the texture, the better.

Place dough ball in a plastic or glass container, cover with lid or cloth, and place in fridge for 12-36 hours. (Peterson has left the dough for over 48 hours and still had success.)

When ready, remove dough from fridge and bring to room temperature, 2-4 hours. Preheat oven to as hot as it can go — 400-500 F. Plop dough in Dutch oven, slash a few cuts across top of loaf (about 1/2-inch deep), and put in oven for 20 minutes with lid on. Remove lid and turn down heat to 350 F. Bake until done, about 25 more minutes.

Open-Faced Breakfast Sandwich

(This is a weekend breakfast staple at the Peterson home.)

2 thick slices sourdough bread

hummus

tomatoes

avocado

grated or sliced cheese (whatever kind you have in the fridge)

spinach

2 poached eggs

Hollandaise (optional)

ground pepper

Poach eggs. While eggs are poaching, toast bread lightly. Spread thick layer of hummus on each slice. Top with sliced tomatoes, sliced avocado, cheese and spinach. Be generous — pile things on liberally. Top everything with poached egg, and hollandaise if you want. Grind pepper overtop, grab knife and fork. Enjoy.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.